By Levinus Nwabughiogu
ABUJA — Chairman of the defunct Presidential Screening Committee of
the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said that the
party’s presidential candidate, General Mohammadu Buhari was cleared
for primary election strictly on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution
as amended.
Besides, he said that the affidavit produced by Buhari during the
screening exercise provided every conviction needed to clear him.
Onu also added that the person of Buhari who had hitherto attended
many military institutions both at home and abroad before rising to the
pinnacle of his career in the Nigeria Army could not have done so
without passing his examinations at primary and secondary school
levels.
He wondered why the certificate has suddenly been made an issue
even when Buhari had contested previous elections without hitches.
He said: “Really that issue shouldn’t create the kind of problem
that we are seeing today in the polity. When this matter came before us
in the presidential screening committee, we had to rely on the
constitution of our great country to qualify anybody to be president of
Nigeria.
Buhari: Our situation must change!
“You have to be a Nigerian by birth. He has to be 40 years of age.
He has to be a member of a political party and that political party must
sponsor you and finally should obtain education at least up to
secondary school level or equivalent.
“And our presidential candidate had attended military schools, in
Nigeria, in India, in the United Kingdom, UK, and in the United states
of America, USA. He attended the US army war college. So, there isn’t
any reason whatsoever to create this type of problems that we now have
in the polity.”
Asked if the committee demanded a copy of the school certificate
during the screening, Onu said the affidavit gave them the needed proof.
“No, we demanded for that, but there was an affidavit and you know
once you swear to an affidavit, that definitely gives you whatever
protection in any matter not just in this case.
“But the thing is that we were not doing this for the PDP, we were
doing it for Nigeria. This is a man who will be president of Nigeria and
there is a supreme law, the constitution that guides us and the issue
of qualifications is at least a school certificate.
“So if there is evidence that somebody has attended military
schools that are tertiary institutions up to the war college of the USA,
I mean why should you really go into school certificate and so on?
“But the Army has shown that he applied in Form 6. Many young
people don’t know we used to have Form 6. I attended Form 6. I attended
higher school that is what it is called then and you spend 2 years at
the lower and the upper. You can’t go to Form 6 unless you completed
your Form 5 and he got all the credits in the relevant subjects. So all
those are in his file.”
The APC chieftain while dismissing the issue however said that
Nigeria had other issues such as insecurity and unemployment yearning
for urgent attention now than Buhari’s certificate
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